my first HDR

[97TurboDSM]

thanks jon. i might be because the tripod moved just a hair between the three shots and when you layered them together it makes it look out of focus. or it really is just out of focus. can you tell me what settings you were using? also what focus points youre using.

[UnderPoweredRS]

What do you mean by focus points? I'm letting the camera auto adjust then going up and down with the shutter speed to produce lighter and darker photos. And the camera is controlling the focus. I'm not 100% sure how to adjust focus with this camera yet.

Anyway here is today attempt. It was still overcast today :-(



http://www.forcefed4.com/gallery2/d/...2/DSCF0053.JPG
http://www.forcefed4.com/gallery2/d/...1/DSCF0083.JPG

[Stanic]

Originally Posted by UnderPoweredRS

What do you mean by focus points? I'm letting the camera auto adjust then going up and down with the shutter speed to produce lighter and darker photos. And the camera is controlling the focus. I'm not 100% sure how to adjust focus with this camera yet.

Anyway here is today attempt. It was still overcast today :-(



http://www.forcefed4.com/gallery2/d/...2/DSCF0053.JPG
http://www.forcefed4.com/gallery2/d/...1/DSCF0083.JPG

for hdr, try and leave the shutter speed at a constant.. and adjust your exposure instead... something like -5,-3,0,3,5

[97TurboDSM]

um your focus points are the little dots that you see through the viewfinder and those determine what the camera focuses on.

[UnderPoweredRS]

oh ok so exposure is the F value? I thought a slower shutter speed is a longer exposure.

97turbodsm: My camera has a square that moves around and it seems to focus in on a large area. Like the first helicopter it was around the whole nose of the bird.

I have to figure out how to manual focus with this thing because I don't think the auto focus is a crisp as it could be.

[OWENthatsmyname]

F stop (F) is your aperture value. just adjust your shutter speed. leave it at a constant F #. If you adjust your Aperture and not your Shutter you will have all different depths of field. You want to keep everything a constant except for the lightness/darkness of the photos, hence adjusting the shutter speed.

and for the focus, try to select a single focal point and use the same one for all of your shots. see if your camera has different settings to choose smaller focal points instead of large areas.

[dt98gsr]

Originally Posted by Stanic

for hdr, try and leave the shutter speed at a constant.. and adjust your exposure instead... something like -5,-3,0,3,5

I doubt he can do that with his camera, and even if he could, I would not recommend using a shutter speed priority while bracketing shots for an HDR. You should definitely just shoot in a manual mode and adjust your shutter speed to achieve your desired exposure values.

Originally Posted by GC8drifter86

F stop (F) is your aperture value. just adjust your shutter speed. leave it at a constant F #. If you adjust your Aperture and not your Shutter you will have all different depths of field. You want to keep everything a constant except for the lightness/darkness of the photos, hence adjusting the shutter speed.

and for the focus, try to select a single focal point and use the same one for all of your shots. see if your camera has different settings to choose smaller focal points instead of large areas.

Or see if it lets you manually move your focus point at all, cause I know a lot of P&S cameras don't allow you to manually move your focus point around.

[OWENthatsmyname]

ha why did you bold part of my post?

yea, i have no experience w/ his fujifilm camera. but since it is categorized as an "SLR-Like" i figured it would have selective focus

[jspek]

Originally Posted by Stanic

for hdr, try and leave the shutter speed at a constant.. and adjust your exposure instead... something like -5,-3,0,3,5

last i checked, shutter speed controlled exposure

ralph are u using manual mode? and does it have bracketing mode?

[dt98gsr]

Originally Posted by GC8drifter86

ha why did you bold part of my post?

yea, i have no experience w/ his fujifilm camera. but since it is categorized as an "SLR-Like" i figured it would have selective focus

cause that was the same point I was trying to make

[UnderPoweredRS]

Originally Posted by jspek

last i checked, shutter speed controlled exposure

ralph are u using manual mode? and does it have bracketing mode?

Thats what I thought but like I said I'm a newb. So I was doing it correct by adjusting just shutter speed to get and over exposed, normal and under exposed photo?

I was using the camera on "S" mode. "Shutter Priority" Auto mode with User controled Shutter speeds.

I just looked through the menu and in manual mode the only options I have in the menu under Focus are "continuous AF" and "Single AF" Also under "AF Mode" I have "Center" "multi" and "area" But Multi and Area are grayed out and I can't seem to figure out how to "unlock" them.

Yes is had something about bracketing in the menu.

[R22B]

You aren't going to pick up a camera and take shots that would earn their rights in National Geographic right away. I've used a point and click for nearly three years now. This past year, I've learned about things like shutter speed, exposure, aperture and stuff like that. I've learned the camera quite well and feel I can finally move up to a DSLR.

Point and clicks will always have their limit compared to DSLR's... there is just no if ands or buts about it. However, once you learn your camera, you will be able to really push the limits of a point and click. Now, I find myself just skipping over the "auto" setting and setting everything manually.

Here is a shot I took at STRP this past year:
http://r22b.com/photos/albums/STPR2008/DSCF2013.JPG <- Straight from the camera.

Camera Settings: (Fujifilm FinePix E550)
Shutter Speed: 1/480 sec
Aperture: f/4.2
Focal Length: 16.8 mm
ISO Sensitivity: 80
Time Taken: 2008:06:07 11:32:06
Metering Mode: Multi-Segment
Flash Fired: No Flash

Also, not all cameras created equal. My fiancee's mother just purchased a 10MP point and click and is by far the worst camera I have ever used. Disposable cameras take better shots than that thing. Honestly, I'd rather stare into my own asshole than use that thing again.

My advice (as a fellow point and clicker) is read the manual, find out what stuff does, and try taking photos in low light, bright lights, close-ups and even make yourself frustrated with the photo's you'll take. After you take shots in nearly every condition and they turn out well, you know you got it.

Right now, I'm going through a "close-up" stage... where I like all my shots up close :D
http://r22b.com/photos/albums/My%20Subaru/Car%205.jpg


Keep up the work man, you'll get there eventually... and you'll be embarrassed by earlier work lol

[UnderPoweredRS]

I took my boots off when I got home and put them in front of my closet when I sat down and looked at them I thought it would make a good photo.


The house across the street


Do you guys think I'm making progress or am I just spinning my wheels?

Ok no more HDR. Maybe some macro stuff later on tonight.

[R22B]

I saw drop the HDR and only do that stuff in Photoshop. It seems like the HDR setting on the camera is adding noise and making everything blurry?

[UnderPoweredRS]

The camera doesn't do the HDR a program called photomatix does. I don't have photo shop. So I'll have to get my hands on a copy

[R22B]

Post an unedited one of the shots you posted.

[OWENthatsmyname]

why do you want to master HDR so badly? whats wrong with normal shots ha.

i personally dont like HDR all that much

[UnderPoweredRS]

IDK I always thought they looked cool and wanted to know how to do it.

[UnderPoweredRS]

[UnderPoweredRS]

meh now that I look back on that shot it looks like sh*t. everything looks all green.


R22B I would but I deleted them. In the pas week with this camera I've taken over 2 gigs of photos. My laptop was running out of room so I had to delete some of the pictures.